Category: Uncategorized

I participated in this year’s Triton Museum “Salon 2025” in Santa Clara, CA. Honored to be part of this exhibit of 146 artists chosen from 2,300 applications.

Secondary Market is a series of abstract paintings that challenges conventional notions of artistic value and utility. Rooted in the concept of up-cycling, the series transforms what might typically be dismissed as “secondary” or “unworthy”. I have repurposed test canvases originally created alongside my figurative works—pieces intended for technique trials, style experiments, or conceptual explorations.

The paintings are 13.75″ X 13.75″ X 1.5″ framed made with acrylic/gouache on canvas mounted on acrylic/gouache on canvas and mounted on board.

The “Here And Now: The Bay Area Figurative Movement Grows,” at the Sausalito Center for Arts was hosted for the second year. I participated in this group exhibit about today’s narrative, expressive phase of the Bay Area figurative movement is about reflecting on the world we live in. 

We are telling stories that reach beyond academic achievement and accuracy. We are truth seeking. Sometimes we embrace the unbeautiful. Or create beauty for its own sake. 

Our work might reflect on our personal struggles or reflect the tensions that surround our lives. We are presenting a range of select artists who focus on the figure and are living and working in The Bay Area. Each is grounded in the figurative movement yet continues to explore and express their humanity through portrayals of the form in context. 

CURATORS: Susan R. Kirshenbaum and Catherine Merrill

EXHIBITING ARTISTS: Joseph Abbati, Doug Andelin, Isidoro Angeles, Adam Caldwell, Sandy Frank, Tebby George, Mary Graham, Susan R. Kirshenbaum, Calvin Lai, Kim Larson, 

Catherine Merrill, Stephen Namara, Diane Olivier, May Shei, Sandra Speidel

AND

THE DRAWING GROUP: Dwight Been, Henry Bridges, Daisy Eneix, John Goodman, Susan R. Kirshenbaum, Pamela Mooney, Alex Rosmarin, Peter Steinhart, Barbara Tonnesen, Dieter Tremp

Tongues Out is a vibrant and cheeky series capturing men in a pose familiar to today’s selfie culture—sticking out their tongues. This playful gesture is both humorous and bold, with roots in defiance and self-expression. In each painting, heads pop out from bright, pastel backgrounds, reminiscent of a lively “Whack-A-Mole” game, each figure exuding a spirit that is both irreverent and delightfully human. The tongue here serves as a playful, phallic symbol—an instrument of pleasure and mischief, often hidden due to its association with disapproval or rudeness.

The men in Tongues Out subvert these taboos, using their tongues to express a carefree confidence that resonates with queer culture’s embrace of shameless expression. Yet, the works are universal in their humor, capturing a common impulse to tease, play, and defy in our own unique ways. With striking colors and popping figures, this series is a celebration of shared humanity, showing how a single, silly gesture can encapsulate joy, freedom, and defiance.

2024/25, acrylic/gouache on canvas, diamond 33.75″ X 33.75″ X 1.5″, square 20″ X 20″ X 1.5″ on linen, 25.375″ X 23.375″ X 1.5″

“BOLDFACE” group exhibit at Radian Gallery opening November 7 through December 14, 2024. This exhibit features six of my “Bulls Eyes” series. The “Bulls Eyes” series emerges as a provocative exploration of identity and form, challenging conventional notions of human representation through a striking fusion of the human and the bovine. Each painting in this collection serves as a compelling dialogue between anatomy and abstraction, casting a reflective gaze upon the very essence of what defines a figure.

“Identities” has an opening reception August 9, 2024 at Art Works Downtown, San Raphael, CA.

“Paride Not Prejudice” was an exhibit I co-curated with Charles Stinson at the Sausalito Center For The Arts, June 14 – July 7, 2024. It was a group exhibit with nineteen Bay Area Artists.

“VISIBLE” was a solo exhibit at the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton, CA May 4 – June 29, 2024 for Pride. It featured five tapestries of San Francisco drag queens and eight paintings of local queer artists.

“KINDRED” was an exhibit at 2358 MRKT Gallery that ran through June, 2024 celebrating the friendship of three artists, Don Hershman, Yunus Chkirate and myself for Pride.